Williams, 50, said the economy is the most important issue this election year. He intends to vote for Democrats Roy Barnes for governor and Michael Thurmond for U.S. Senate, but like many, he has little faith in their ability to create jobs for the working man.

"When these people take office, they promise you the world," Williams said. "When they get in office, they forget all about you."

A Georgia Newspaper Partnership/Mason-Dixon Polling & Research survey last week painted a picture of an electorate worried about the economy but not sure their leaders are willing or able to help.

Forty-seven percent of respondents called jobs or the economy their No. 1 concern - as many as education, health care, immigration, abortion and every other issue put together.

They gave low marks to the federal government and showed a profound distrust of Democrats. Fifty-six percent said they disapprove of President Obama's performance and 72 percent don't like the job Congress is doing.

Jonathan Beall, 30, of Dublin, was critical of the president.

"Obama has done a horrible job with carrying out the will of the people that elected him," Beall said.

Other voters are willing to give Obama more time to turn things around, such as Sarah Bowmen, 73, of Elberton, who lost her job at a brake-pad factory in October.

"So far, I guess he's doing the best he can," Bowmen said. "It was a big mess when he came in."

On the whole, though, the numbers show a big advantage for Republicans.

Slightly more than 50 percent of respondents trust Republicans more to deal with most issues, including the economy, health care and the state budget, according to the poll.

In matchups of unnamed candidates for Congress and the state legislature, voters show a distinct preference for the Republican. Nearly half of all respondents - 47 percent - said their feelings toward national Democrats make them less likely to vote for a Democrat in Georgia.

"The key number here? Independents," said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling. "It's the people who self-identify as independent, and you have almost half of them saying they won't vote for the Democrat on the state level because of the performance of Democrats in Washington."

There's more bad news in the poll for Democrats in Georgia: More and more independents now are calling themselves Republicans.

When Mason-Dixon polled the state for the Georgia Newspaper Partnership in July, just before the party primaries, 37 percent of the respondents called themselves Democrats, 33 percent said they were Republicans and 30 percent answered that they were independents.

Last week, however, those numbers changed: 42 percent said they were Republicans, 34 percent identified themselves as Democrats and 24 percent answered independent.

Georgia Democrats' problems with the national party are no secret.

Barnes, looking to reclaim his old office, was many counties away when Obama visited Atlanta in August. He also has nearly trademarked a line calling for voters to kick out "the nuts in both parties" and sent some reaching for their history books when he wondered whether the Whigs could make a comeback.

That hasn't stopped Republicans from trying to tie Barnes to Obama. The Republican Governors Association has run television ads and has a website dedicated to pairing the two Democrats together, and Deal has tried to make the connection as well.

They are doing that, Coker said, because it works.

"If you're a 'D,' you're an Obama supporter," he said. "That is not going to help Democrats at all."

Barnes, however, argues that Georgia voters know better.

"It's more than just separating myself; it is they know me," he said. "They know I'm a Democrat. Yes, I'm a Democrat."

But he said he hopes they see him in the mold of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn and former Gov. Zell Miller, both conservative Democrats.

Barnes can try to avoid the comparison to Obama, but it won't matter, Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said.

"Democrats in Georgia naturally are demoralized by the failure of the leadership of their party, and those are people Roy Barnes has contributed (to)," Robinson said. "Republican voters by contrast are energized ... and they are going to show up en masse."

A bright spot for Democrats running for state office - and Republicans running for Congress - is that most voters prefer a split government. Democrats currently control the White House, U.S. Senate and House, while Republicans run things under the Gold Dome.

The poll found that 67 percent of Georgia voters believe the country is better off when one party controls the White House and the other controls Congress. Only 18 percent said total control by one party is best. A similar percentage, 62 percent, said split control is best for state government.

Cary Rosenthal likewise has negative opinions about Obama and the Democratic Congress. The 70-year-old mediator from Sandy Springs said he would give both failing grades.

Rosenthal will vote for Isakson for U.S. Senate, but he's voting for Barnes for governor.

"I do believe he can hit the ground running," Rosenthal said about Barnes. "Nathan Deal would come in there, it would take him months just to learn how the governor gets to do things."

• Aaron Gould Sheinin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this article.